of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 



21 



diminution was for the most part in haddocks and cod; so also there was 

 a very large decrease in the quantities of these fishes landed elsewhere in 

 Scotland. The quantity of cod landed on the East Coast of Scotland 

 amounted in 1897 to 304,303 cwts., while last year it reached only 

 203,838 cwts., or a falling-off of 40,465 cwts. The corresponding 

 quantities for the whole of Scotland were 461,339 cwts. and 390,589 

 cwts., a decrease of over 70,000 cwts. So also with haddocks — in 1897 

 456,062 cwts. of haddocks were landed on the East Coast, as compared 

 with 240,306 cwts. last year; on the whole coast of Scotland 515,927 

 cw T ts. were landed in 1897, while in 1898 the quantity did not gross 

 more than 287,120 cwts., or not very much more than half of the total in 

 the preceding year. The same observation applies to the other species 

 enumerated in the statistics ; that is to say, where a falling-off occurred 

 in the Moray Firth — of ling, whitings, conger, halibut, skate, and " other 

 kinds of white fish. " — it also occurred at other parts of the coast. In 

 like manner, the increase in the quantity of saithe caught in the Moray 

 Firth was associated with an increased catch of that fish at other parts of 

 the coast : the quantity landed on the East Coast in 1897 was 33,448 

 cwts., while last year it rose to 39,981 cwts. It is thus evident that the 

 fluctuations in the quantities of fish taken in the Moray Firth last year 

 were not due to causes peculiar to that area, since similar fluctuations 

 were common to the whole coast. 



If we now consider the operations of the boats which prosecuted line- 

 fishing in the Moray Firth, we shall find that there has been a very con- 

 siderable falling-off in the number of " shots " or visits to the fishing 

 grounds. The figures for each district are given in the followiug Table : — 





Wick. 



Lybster. 



Helmsdale. 



Cromarty. 



Findhorn. 



Buckie. 



Banff. 



Year. 



so 



1 



bD 



»3 



CO 



CD 

 60 



co 



be 



3Q 



bD 



►3 



CO 



to 



c« 



OQ 



bo 

 i-J 



is 



CO 



1894 

 1895 

 1896 

 1897 

 1898 



396 

 1,553 

 2,774 

 3,911 

 1,918 



7,295 

 4,155 

 3,063 

 3,266 

 2,846 



s22 

 ~90 

 208 

 264 

 148 



876 

 965 

 1,266 

 1.440 

 1,211 



199 

 366 

 363 

 466 

 448 



4,288 

 3,614 

 3,535 

 3,010 

 2,971 



12 

 13 



3 



6,871 

 6,561 

 6,078 

 5,918 

 6,015 



3,132 

 2.(153 

 3,772 

 4',738 

 4,148 



10,544 

 11,481 

 10,450 

 12,810 

 10,577 



2,422 

 1,929 



2,935 

 2,537 

 1,958 



9,104 

 8,907 

 8,420 

 7,943 

 7,727 



828 

 1,107 

 1,850 

 2,120 

 1,708 



15,888 

 14,930 

 15,534 

 14,449 

 10,506 



It will be observed that the total number of "'shots" made in each 

 district was considerably less in 1898 than in the preceding year. In all 

 the districts except Cromarty — in which a slight increase occurred — the 

 number of "shots" of the small-line boats diminished; and in each dis- 

 trict the number of " shots " of the great-line boats was also less than in 

 1897. The total number of "shots" of the line made in the closed 

 waters last year was 52,183, as compared with a total of 62,875 in 

 1897, or a decline of more than 10,000; the "shots" made by 

 the great-line boats were 3709 and those made by the small boats were 

 6983 less than in the year before. 



2. The Firth of Clyde. 



During last year the stations in the Firth of Clyde were examined 

 twice in August and September and in December. The stations in 

 Loch Fyne (XIII. — XVII.) were trawled in August and December, and a 

 number of hauls were made along selected lines to determine the distri- 

 bution of spawning fish and of immature fish at various parts of the closed 



